Lieutenant Eliezer Rogovin

His life before and at the beginning of the war

Eliezer Rogovin was born on 6.5.1922 (ח’ באייר תרפ”ב) in Poland in the city of Volozhin. Eliezer attended elementary school and continued to Hebrew-Zionist high school. In late 1939, when the war broke out, Volozhin was annexed to the Soviet Union. After the alliance between Stalin and Hitler was broken, the Germans occupied the area.

On July 25, 1941, the Germans entered the city and soon afterwards a local mob began to riot, murder Jews and set fire to synagogues. The ghetto was established in August 1941, and many Jews were brought to it from the surrounding towns and also from Vilnius.

In the autumn  of 1941 the first Aktion took place, 200 Jews were executed together with the Judenrat. In the second Aktion, on May 10, 1942, some 1,700 Jews were gathered near the bathhouse, stripped of their clothing and shot dead. On August 29, 1942, the third “Aktion” was held in which the remains of the Jewish community were murdered.

Among the Aktionen, about 80 of the Volozhin Jews managed to escape to the forests, including Eliezer. The rest of his family were murdered in the ghetto. He joined the Russian partisans in the forests around Nalibok-Stolpets and participated in their attempts to damage the German war effort.

Joining the partisans and ending of the war

With the advance of the front, national divisions of partisans were established in the Soviet Union. One of them was the “Chaklov” Brigade, of which Eliezer was one of its members. He excelled in the war against the Nazi occupiers and was appointed a liaison officer in the Brigade, and in 1943 was appointed commander of a 25-man saboteur company engaged in road, rail, and railroad deployment. During his operations, Eliezer sabotaged 18 trains loaded with soldiers and ammunition, was promoted to lieutenant (lieutenant) and received many honors, including the title and symbol of the “hero of the Soviet Union”.

After the release of Volozhin, in July 1944, Eliezer was appointed Commander of the Secret Service in the city. Due to accidental peasant killing, while trying to repair a machine that was broken, was punished and sent to the front. In Vilnius he killed a collaborator with the Nazis, who according to his knowledge had a part in the destruction of his family.

At the end of the war Eliezer was released and allowed to return to Poland. When he arrived in Lodz, he learned that all his family had perished by the Nazis. He joined the “Gordonia” kibbutz, and later became one of its directors.

After the war

From Lodz he went with his friends on the escape route. Later, Eliezer was active in the Displaced persons camps in Salzburg, Vienna and Italy as a guide and Hebrew teacher, assisting in the implementation of the illegal Aliyah B organized by the Haganah. While in Italy, he joined the Irgun (National Military Organization;אצ”ל).

When it was his turn, Eliezer immigrated to Israel, but his ship was seized by the British and with the other immigrants deported to Cyprus. Twice he tried to escape, but failed. Only in the middle of 1948, after spending more than a year on the island of deportation, he was allowed to immigrate to Israel.

Immediately upon his arrival, Eliezer joined Brigade 12 – the “Negev” Brigade of the Palmach, and has since participated in battles in the Negev during the War of Independence.

During the fighting in the Negev, Eliezer was sent to dismantle mines in the territories that were transferred to Israel. On December 26, 1948 (כ”ד בכסלו תש”ט), he died because of a mine explosion in the village of Mukhara, about 15 km east of Gaza.

Eliezer was twenty-six in his fall. Brought to rest in the Military Cemetery on the streets. After his fall, he was promoted to lieutenant.